‘People don’t really understand’: Samu Kerevi’s message for Wallabies fans

Rugby fans and bookmakers have given the Wallabies next to no chance of beating the All Blacks in this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Dunedin.

The Wallabies fell to their third consecutive defeat just over a week ago as New Zealand put on a second-half attacking clinic in front of almost 84,000 people at the world-famous MCG.

Playing under current coach Eddie Jones, who replaced former boss Dave Rennie in the Wallabies’ hot seat in January, the men in gold are yet to register a win.

With just over a month to go until their opening Rugby World Cup fixture against Georgia, some Australian rugby fans are filled with the all-too-familiar feelings of pessimism and doubt.

But don’t give up on the Wallabies. Not yet.

In the leadup to the second and final Bledisloe Cup Test of the year, world-class centre Samu Kerevi issued a very clear message to Wallabies fans.

“We don’t want to accept losses. We understand (zero) and four and three, but it’s not something that we’re focused on to be honest,” Kerevi told reporters on Friday.

“We’ve taken each game as it’s come, worked really hard each week and sometimes you do all the right things – and that’s the thing with success, you can do all the right things, tick all the boxes, and still fall short.

“From the outside people don’t really understand how much sacrifice the team does, and not just the players but the staff… I don’t think people really understand.

“They can say their comments over socials but the team sticks tight because we know what we’ve sacrificed, we understand how the fathers here have spent time away from their kids.

“As a team we haven’t tried to look into that, we’ve tried to look at the answers because the answers are only going to come in this group… we’ve worked extremely hard.

“We believe we’re going to get what we’re working hard for… at the end of the year, when we look back, this trial by fire is what the team will be made of in the end. You can stick by us or not but we’re sticking by each other.”

The Wallabies are on the brink of a disastrous run of four losses on the bounce. They haven’t beaten the All Blacks on New Zealand soil in more than two decades.

Australia will need to rewrite history.

“We’ve taken each game as it’s come, worked really hard each week and sometimes you do all the right things – and that’s the thing with success, you can do all the right things, tick all the boxes, and still fall short,” Kerevi added.

“For us it’s about the confidence in what we’ve been doing and to keep building on it because it’s a long year, there’s a bigger prize at the end.”

The Wallabies take on arch-rivals New Zealand at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Following that Test, the Australians are set to announce their Rugby World Cup squad on Thursday.